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| Tuesday, January 22, 2008 |
| Unjobbed |
So, we have arrived, we are settled, we have independent transport - now we need jobs and a place to call our own. It seemed easy enough back in Aus - Ata, being without any real career direction, would get a temp job to pay for rent while Mr Ata looked for a Proper Job. Their savings would sustain them for expenses beyond rent, surely.
Since arrival, this basic strategy has come under serious reconsideration. So far, it appears that we have made correct assumptions in terms of where we can afford to live, and Ata even appears to have slightly underestimated her earning capacity (to her great relief). The problems have rather been issues of timing and choice. In Adelaide, temping involves registering with an agency, completing assessments, interviewing for positions (sometimes - it depends on the contract and particularly on the contract length), and then there will be a decent sort of lead time to the beginning of the contract. When a client says they want someone ASAP, it tends to mean 'in a week's time'. Beginning with a new agency - even if they have something lined up for you straight away - usually means at least 10 days downtime before starting work, and once Ata waited so long for the client to make up their minds about a start date that the agency placed her somewhere else before they got around to a decision.
With this background, therefore, Ata had assumed that much the same would be true on arrival in the UK. She anticipated securing a contract, then having at least a week to locate a suitable rental property - in this way, the risk of long commute times would be decently minimised. Yes, yes - it has been a long time since Ata last rented accomodation. She's only ever gone through the process once, in fact, so she really had no notion of how many weeks can be chewed up while one agonises over location, layout, and cost. Anyway. What she wasn't prepared for was the hectic pace London proceeds at. She told her chosen agency that she would be available from the 14th - this was way back at the start of December, when the complexities of adapting to the way of life on the other side of the world were truly just imaginings. She was not expecting frantic emails from the agency on the day of the 14th, asking when she could come for an interview as they had a fantastic opportunity which needed filling immediately to start ASAP. When she asked how soon ASAP was, it proved to be the 21st at the latest, and could she come into London to interview on Tuesday in the morning? She couldn't, of course, and arranged for Wednesday afternoon instead. Well, she and Mr Ata had been planning to go in on Thursday anyway - one day sooner surely couldn't hurt.
The interview went well despite Ata being horribly late due to a mix-up with buses. More specifically, she went to catch the right bus going in the wrong direction, realised her mistake almost in time to catch the bus she needed, and spent 20 minutes trying to catch it before giving up & calling the agency to warn them she'd be late. Nothing like a 20-minute run in heels to take the chill off. The Kiwi who interviewed Ata thought she was excellent, according to the temp agency, but in the end decided to take the second-best candidate as Ata was not settled enough (Ata had stated a preference for a temp contract rather than a temp-to-perm employment basis). Ata was not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved - the job was handling Accounts Payable for Simon Fuller (one-time manager of the Spice Girls and inventor of the Idol phenomenon), which would have been interesting, but the immediate start date would have meant undertaking a 1.5 hour commute and leaving apartment-hunting to Mr Ata. Before leaving London on Friday (after a round of appointments with three consultants at the temp agency, one with the agency who assisted Mr Ata with the visa, and one with a bank to arrange an account), Ata contacted the temp agency to advise them of her newly-acquired mobile phone number.
"Great!" said the perky consultant at the other end. "Now, we've got one doing accounts at the BBC - oh no, that's just been filled. There's a position at ITV instead, starts Feb 4, are you interested? That one at the publishing house is too junior for you, really, but if you want..." Uncertain of how she found herself the sole possession of the Media Finance Recruitment department, Ata weakly agreed to having her CV forwarded to ITV and caught the train back to Headley.
The weekend was full of long discussion over places to live and work and who should look for work first or whether they should find a place to live prior to seeking employment. Mr Ata performed some searches and pulled up a riot of employment possibilities for himself, located all over the Kingdom. Suddenly - and spurred on by the myriad of people who have ventured their opinions over the last week and a half - Ata and Mr Ata are having to give Serious Thought not just to what they want to do but where they want to do it, and the wealth of choices for both of them (so unlike what they're used to, and reinforcing how truly small a country Australia is for all its size) is numbing.
Monday brought with it more phone calls from temp consultants and recruiters - for both Ata and Mr Ata this time. Ata has found herself becoming much more picky, refusing to consider today's offering (and feeling bad for doing it) on the basis that the role was too junior and the pay was not good enough. Mr Ata is suddenly giving hard thought to what he wants rather than what's available - something he hasn't had to give serious attention to before. And underneath it all is the thought that offers of interviews aren't the same as offers of jobs, that perhaps they would have been better to stick rigidly to the initial plan and take whatever was offered, offering whatever was needed to secure the role. Dear bob, how do you people cope with so many possibilities? |
posted by Ata @ 8:10 am  |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Wowzers. I'm suddenly very proud of my home country.
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Youre an amazing writer, Lynelle. This blog is pretty incredible. Aussie Aussie Aussie!!! xx
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Wowzers. I'm suddenly very proud of my home country.